When you surround yourself with people who genuinely want the best for you, you are more likely to succeed and reach your goals. When we surround ourselves with positive, successful people they consciously and subconsciously challenge us to be our best selves.
If you want to accelerate your success, it’s important to surround yourself with people you can learn from. Join a mastermind group or find someone who is already getting the results you want. They have a strategy for success, whether they know it or not, and by spending time with them you can develop a similar one.
Surrounding Yourself With The Right People Changes Everything
It’s widely known that one of the best ways to improve on a skill is to practice it with someone who’s better than you (tennis, skiing, yoga, running…) Yes, you will have to work harder, think faster and learn more fundamentals. You’ll sweat and have sore muscles, but after a while, your skills will improve and, eventually, you might even be good enough to teach someone else a thing or two.
This idea of playing with someone better than you translates nicely to your personal and career successes as well, and that’s why it’s important to surround yourself with people who are winners. Life is hard enough - we don’t always win, and there will always be obstacles and naysayers along our path to success.
During those times, nothing feels better than having someone you can share your fears and doubts with: friends and mentors that not only listen, but also cheer you on to be the best you can be. “Get back in there and do better! You can do it!” They give you energy and help you propel forward.
Say Goodbye To The Negative People
Find and focus on relationships with those who can share their wins and positive vibes and help you realize that you can do the same. Life is too short for the negativity.
Highly successful people are generally willing to share what it really takes to make things happen. They have the ability to help you learn from the mistakes they’ve made along the way and the “tricks and tips” to help you reach your goals faster. Seek out leaders of your field and get some real face time with them.
Those you spend the most time with have a huge influence on your moods, how you view the world and the expectations you have of yourself. When you surround yourself with positive people, you’re more likely to adopt empowering beliefs and see life as happening for you instead of to you. Just as you benefit when you surround yourself with people who make you happy, you suffer when those in your business or social circles are negative or narrow-minded.
If you’re tired of feeling weighed down by the negative people who surround you, it’s time to start attracting positive people into your life! Let’s define, first, an overall sense of what it means to be positive:
Having compassion and empathy toward others
Having ambition and courage to follow your dreams and goals
Having coping mechanisms to deal with sadness, anger and frustration
Having the ability to look at a situation and realize that it’s one moment in time — not an entire lifetime
Having the discipline to invest in yourself before others, meaning to value self-care as important and not selfish
Here are five things you can do to help ensure the people you are around aren’t just chronic complainers:
1. Be Yourself
The first step to becoming truly happy and surrounding yourself with people who are positive is one of the hardest things to do: be yourself.
Being true to yourself, especially in tough situations, is not easy, but to attract the right people, you have to start practicing this trait. By being true to yourself, your personality will shine bright. You’ll also be happier, and in turn, positive people will be drawn to you.
2. Find Common Ground
With any relationship, common ground is important. You have to define for yourself who you consider a positive person. Is it someone who always finds humor in things? Is it someone who, even in a crisis, sees the good and tries to help?
You’ll have to define what positive traits you’re attracted to and adopt them yourself. As soon as you do that, you will be able to hone in on who you jive the best with in your social circles.
3. Get Outside of Your Comfort Zone
Not much good comes from swimming in the same pond over and over again with the same fish. If you’re surrounded right now by people who have negative outlooks, you can’t expect to draw in positive people.
Getting outside of your comfort zone and experiencing new things is a great way to find positivity in your life. Find a way to meet new people - join a club, a young professionals group or a workout group. At every corner, there are opportunities to make small talk with someone who may just turn out to be a great friend in the future.
4. Look in the Mirror
The old adage, “opposites attract” may be true in aspects such as love, but when it comes to positivity, your best bet is to adopt a positive mindset yourself. You don’t like being dragged down by very pessimistic, cynical people all the time, right? The positive people you want to meet don’t want that, either.
While we will all have ups and downs, in order to create relationships with those who have an overall positive outlook, you’ll need to create a positive outlook yourself. To have positive experiences, you have to be willing to embrace both positive and negative energy, but to focus more on the positive.
5. Give Positivity First
Just as negativity is like a cold you don’t want to get, positivity and happiness are also highly contagious - but people don’t mind catching them.
For example, we can’t always be surrounded by positive people (take your co-workers above - you still have to work with them), but we can exude positive energy to help diminish the negativity in the room.
Challenge Yourself To Become Best Version Of Yourself
Attracting positive people into your life won’t be an overnight accomplishment. It takes an immense amount of thought and practice to change your own mindset and to find others who value positivity just as you do, but it’s well worth the hard work it takes!
If you want to become your best self I challenge you to surround yourself with people who have dreams, desire and ambition. They will help you to push for, and realise your own. People who believe in your dreams, encourage your ideas, support your ambitions, and bring out the best in you.
People inspire you, or they drain you - pick them wisely. Always remember that who you spend the most time with is who you eventually become. To reach new heights of success, you must surround yourself with people who not only inspire you, but challenge you.
I want you to live your best life possible and I know it isn’t always easy, but it’s worth it.
Remember, don't be afraid to dream big. You can totally have it all.
